The first coronavirus vaccine Pfizer and biotech has been approved for use in the UK. The move makes Britain one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population as it tries to curb Europe's deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.

The United Kingdom has become the world's first nation to allow importing of coronavirus vaccine produced by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the first shipment will be delivered on 15th December 2020.

Pfizer's vaccine shows it was 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns, the company said last month.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "fantastic" that the country’s medicines regulator had formally authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use, a move that he said would get the economy moving again.

Also, Johnson said, "It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again,".

"Help is on the way," Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Wednesday morning after UK regulators granted emergency authorization for a vaccine made by US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people. Hancock told the BBC that an initial 800,000 doses would be delivered from Pfizer's facilities in Belgium to the UK next week, and "many millions" more before the end of the year.

Elderly people in care homes, those who care for them, health workers, and other vulnerable people will be top of the priority list.

It is also announced that healthcare staff and doctors working in COVID-19 units/wards will be the first ones to get vaccinated. This is going to be historic.  

 

Written by Web Desk